Third Sunday of Easter - 18th April 2021

1 John 2: 15–17; 3: 1–6   

Do not love the world or the things in the world. The love of the Father is not in those who love the world; for all that is in the world—the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, the pride in riches—comes not from the Father but from the world.  And the world and its desire are passing away, but those who do the will of God live for ever.  See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure. Everyone who commits sin is guilty of lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he was revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him sins; no one who sins has either seen him or known him.

Luke 24: 36b–48

While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’  They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. He said to them, ‘Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?  Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.’ And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, ‘Have you anything here to eat?’ They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence. Then he said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.’  Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.

Reflection:  

I wonder, as you listen to the readings each week, do you ask God’s Spirit to help you to notice something new? For me this week, I noticed something that I hadn’t seen before in the Gospel reading from Luke: 

‘While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, Jesus said to them’….

Pondering this, it made me think that disbelief or doubting is a accepted part of faith. It goes side by side with the joy of knowing and the inquiry of wonder.

Doubt is not the opposite of faith. In fact, doubt, is probably a necessary component to faith. By definition in the Catechism, ‘Faith’ is believing what we cannot see’. Faith is not knowledge. Faith is more tension-filled. It is acting as if something is true even when you have no proof that it is.

Which means that when we talk about the “gathering of the faithful,” we’re not talking about the gathering of those who’s faith/knowledge is absolute or certain or bedrock. We’re talking about those people who have all kinds of questions and doubts but still find joy and wonder in this message of good news about new life. Or maybe those people who want to find joy and wonder, haven’t yet, but keeping coming because of their hope.

Our Gospel today is an echo of last week’s version of the same event by Luke rather than John’s gospel. Perhaps those who designated the readings in the Lectionary want to make sure we get it- really get it. This account adds extra detail- Luke says ‘While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering’ 

Did you notice that while his disciples are feeling all this compilation of emotion and diverse states of mind- Jesus asks for food!

How seemingly odd- here in the midst of the resurrection appearance Jesus says ‘I’m hungry’? So, I began to wonder….

Isn’t hunger- the need to eat, very human? Isn’t being hungry a natural part of life- we all need nourishment, we all need food- eating is a necessary factor to sustain and strengthen life. Is Luke demonstrating here that side by side, along with the need to eat, is also the need to doubt or question to strengthen faith? In the same story Luke shows that disbelief or doubting is a natural part of faith and being human.

All of which teaches us an important lesson this week. Certainly, we are all different and our response will be different each one. But the bottom line is you see, it’s okay to doubt. In fact, I suggest that faith and doubt often go together, hand in hand. Because, honestly, despite our moments of joy and elation we find that in light of all the death, trauma, disappointment and tragedy that colours human life, it may be quite normal to have at least some difficulty believing; Believing the promise that God not only raised one person, Jesus, from the dead, but that God also promises new life and second chances and forgiveness and grace to all. 

The other thing that I wonder, is how we might live differently if we grasped God’s promises as true. So often, I think, these promises are so familiar to us that we hold them far back in our mind  and so, don’t actually think about them and don’t act as if they are true. But if it’s true that God raised Jesus from the dead… If it’s true that God promises to renew the whole creation and grant us new life… If it’s true that nothing – nothing we’ve done or has been done to us – can separate us from the love of God… If it’s true that God will not turn God’s back on any of us but always reaches out to us in grace, mercy, and forgiveness… If any of this – let alone all of this – is true, then how might we live our lives this week differently? How might this faith – this trusting, courageous faith – change how we look at our relationships, and our politics, and our work, and our resources, and our future?

It may well be difficult for all this sink in and to come to active trust and faith that these promises are true. That’s Ok because even Jesus’ first disciples struggled with all this as well.

Finally, the words from 1 John Ch. 2 encourage us saying – ‘Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is.’ The thing is, that we are not quite there yet- we are still on this journey, come what may. God is still doing his work in us and that’s OK.

When we come to Jesus, as the disciples did, we read that he opens our minds to the scriptures and he then commissions them and us to be witnesses… even though they’ve hardly proven themselves to be particularly confident of what they are experiencing. You don’t have to have it all together, apparently, to be a witness. Moreover, Jesus invites them to be witnesses ‘of these things.’ The wonder, the disbelief, the joy, the testimony. And we can add in Jesus’ teaching and compassion and ministry and healing. Not to forget Jesus’ crucifixion and now his resurrection. They are witnesses to all of this. And witnesses have one and only one job – to tell what you see. To tell the truth. And to not worry about what happens afterward.

So we bring our whole selves before God – our joy, disbelief, wonder, anger, expectations, hopes, disappointments, dreams, and more, knowing that God is eager to gather them all up, meet us where we are, and send us out to be witnesses: witnesses to how God was present in all of it, accepted all of it, promised to use all of it, and even blessed all of it.